Trust and Distrust

No historian of this long period can afford to ignore the book and it will certainly appeal to a large readership not only among historians of Britain and its empire but among political scientists more generally. * Paul Slack, Emeritus Professor of Early Modern Social History, Linacre College, University of Oxford *
The scholarship on display here is remarkable ... [a] superb study * Ian Cawood, Times Literary Supplement *
Knights's achievement is to set the attack on 'Old Corruption' in a much longer timeframe and a more interesting framework than the conventional view * Prof Jonathan Parry (Cambridge), London Review of Books 15 Jan 2022 *
In Trust & Distrust, Knights has produced a work of significant importance and breadth, one which deserves to be read by historians and non-historians alike with an interest in the politics and culture of early modern Britain and its empire. * Ben Gilding, Culture and Social History *
Trust & Distrust is a magisterial piece of scholarship ... It will be the defining scholarly embarkation point for the study of corruption and anticorruption in early modern England and its empire for years to come. * Robert Bucholz, The American Historical Review *
... a remarkable scholarly achievement, and one that is especially impressive for its scope ... * Paul Kosmetatos, Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies *
This is a timely and persuasive contribution to both contemporary debates about corruption and office as well as scholarship on early modern Britain and one that will, indubitably and deservedly, have a strong impact on future research. * Hannes Ziegler, Journal of British Studies *